The view from below – a management system case study from a meaning-based view of organization

This paper reports on a case study, which investigated energy management and environmental management at a large-scale research facility. The author used the perspective of the managed personnel rather than the management, the entity or the management system. The focus of the research was on interpretation of work, particularly how employees' perceptions of priorities were affected by management initiatives. The method used is primarily interpretive. Gathered interview material was analyzed using attributive coding. The background for the interviews was based on studies of environmental issues and energy balances from a proactive, Cleaner Production perspective. The researcher found a reality gap between how the responding employees described their motives and the text of the environmental management system they were responsible for using. The view of the managed placed much greater emphasis on human interactions as a driving force, rather than written policies or instructions, or upon automated training mechanisms. Furthermore, neither the largely compliance-oriented environmental management practices nor the environmental management system had a significant overlap with the energy management in the investigated facility. The case study results revealed that increased attention to the collection and integration of energy and environmental data into computerized operational control systems could result in improved performance.